Jay man gets five years for sexual assault on child

FARMINGTON, Maine — A Jay man was sentenced Thursday to serve five years of a 10-year sentence in prison for sexually assaulting a child between the ages of 9 and 15 several years ago.

Justice Michaela Murphy also ordered David Grover, 53, to serve four years of probation upon his release and to register as a sex offender for 10 years.

Grover pleaded guilty to the gross sexual assault charge on Monday. Two felony unlawful sexual contact charges were dismissed in the plea agreement. He was arrested in June 2012 after an investigation conducted by Jay police Detective Richard Caton IV was finished.

The sentence also prohibits contact with the victim, the victim’s mother and children younger than 16.

The state would be open to supervised, parentally permitted contact with children in the family, Assistant District Attorney James Andrews said.

A representative of Sexual Assault Victims Emergency Services read a written statement prior to the sentencing.

In the statement, the victim’s mother said she was left in shock when she learned what happened to her child and blamed herself for not recognizing it, Kristen Plummer, a SAVES advocate, said, reading from the letter.

The mother, standing beside Plummer at the podium, wiped tears from her eyes as the letter was read.

“I’m angry he has done this to her,” Plummer read. She said that the child lived in fear and jumped at shadows.

“He has hurt so many people,” Plummer read.

She was constantly asking herself why, but stopped asking after no answer came to her, Plummer said. Other mothers who previously were in the same situation spoke to her and told her they had not recognized when their children were being abused until it was exposed.

“I suspect only (Grover) knows why,” she read. “I hope he spends his time reflecting on what he did to others.”

Neither Grover nor his attorney, Leonard Sharon, addressed the court.

The court was aware of other plea-agreement offers that the court didn’t accept, Murphy said.

What convinced her to accept this one, Murphy said, was that the victim felt it was a just sentence.

She “has wonderful plans. I wish you well,” she said to the victim.

The recommended plea agreement and sentence prevents the victim from testifying at trial in open court, she said. She also gave Grover credit for preventing a trial.

Grover is required to undergo sex offender counseling to the satisfaction of his probation officer and comply with Maine’s Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act, Murphy said.